I have bugs?!?!

[Seadogs]

Last night, I noticed I have what looks like bugs near the substrate of my tank. I would love to get a picture but they are so small, it's not going to happen. I hope it's a sign that my tank is maturing (I set up the tank in January).

The "bugs" are smaller than the head of a pin. Just tiny dots running around. One kind is sorta pinkish-red and round shaped. I looked at them with a magnifying glass and thats the best I can do. The other ones are white-ish and almost look like the might have antenna and a shimp like tail, but they are as small or smaller than the pinkish dots.

This is a FOWLER tank and I'd like to get a Mandarin someday. Could I be lucky enough to have started establishing a pod source for the Mandarin? Or have a discovered sinister creatures that will cause problems? Any help would be great!

[Frozen Roadkill]

It sounds like some kind of pod.

[Seadogs]

I was just checking another post that has a link to some pictures. I think the white specs may be copepods. They look really close.

But, I didn't see anything close to the little pinkish dots. They are in the same area as the suspected copepods. I hope they are good guys too! Any info or ideas would be great!

[Sk8r]

Some copepods are reddish. Tigger-pods are. I'd say if they're small, crustacean, and fit a fish's mouth, they're fishfood. You can increase their numbers still more by feeding something like Phytofeast or DT's phytoplankton.

[Seadogs]

Cool, home grown food!

They are small, I would guess crustacean, and they would fit quite well on the head of a pin, so I hope that's what they are.

Thanks!